


In the Cards

by Tokyo_the_Glaive



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Card of Marth, Gen, Temporal Displacement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 01:59:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/933823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tokyo_the_Glaive/pseuds/Tokyo_the_Glaive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucina sees something she wasn't expecting. Tiki is drowning in the past, but Robin is there to pick up the pieces. After all, even if the world isn't perfect, there's still a future worth fighting for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Cards

All in all, Lucina was tired.

She'd been training nearly nonstop all day. As Grima's strength grew, the Risen, too, grew stronger. Knowing this, Lucina had early on adopted one of Kjelle's training regimens. Admittedly one of the -- how would one put it? -- less severe regimens, but a grueling one nonetheless.

Lucina herself was physically exhausted but none the worse for wear from it. Her equipment, on the other hand, clearly showed signs of her work. Falchion, blessedly indestructible, remained unscarred, but the rest of it was now unusable. The princess had obliterated sixteen training dummies, put holes in two walls, scratched Kjelle's favorite armor, inadvertently cut several bundles worth of firewood, and had nearly put the taguel to extinction. Needless to say, Kjelle herself would probably never agree to spar with her again, and Yarne for his part would never offer. Not that, Lucina reminded herself, he would have anyway.

Stretching her hands above her head, Lucina decided that, all things considered, it had been a pretty good day. She giggled out loud. Chrom had promised to practice with her tomorrow, and she had a shopping date with her mother whenever they next hit town. When she thought about it, sparring accidents or no, life seemed ideal. As Lucina walked back to her tent, she couldn't help but feel that, in spite of the constant need to train and move, her world was settling into place. Everything was somehow as it should be.

"Going to get some rest?"

Lucina looked away from the sky to see Robin. The princess smiled. "Yes. I'm bone tired. What about you?"

"Frederick's got a roaring fire going already," the strategist replied. "I'm going to go enjoy it. The nights get so chilly now. I wonder if it has something to do with Grima." Robin's face contorted in pain, but the expression was gone before Lucina could reach out a hand of comfort. "Oof. Headaches. Don't worry about me; I've got tea for that. In fact, I was planning on setting the kettle up over Frederick's fire. You think he'll mind?"

"Not at all!" Lucina said. "He'll just be glad he could be of some assistance. You know how he is."

Robin smiled. "Of course. He's always so helpful. He bleeds himself dry and then some for us, and all we can do is thank him. I feel bad for him."

"Don't. He wouldn't have it any other way. Although, if you do feel that way, maybe you could brew him some of your tea?" Lucina suggested. "It might help him relax a little."

"Naga knows he needs some relaxation!" Robin said with a grin. "It's decided, then. I'll make him a brew he won't soon forget. See you later!"

The strategist walked away, kettle in hand, leaving Lucina alone with a smile. Robin was such an odd duck. The princess hoped that the "brew" Robin was talking about wouldn't do anything bad to Frederick. He really was such a hard-working, good man.

Carrying along on her way, Lucina whistled to herself. It was a tune she'd picked up from Brady back in the old times. He'd still had his mother's violin then, and he'd compose tunes sometimes to help alleviate the constant tension. He said that music and art were important in times of darkness, or at least, that's what his mother had said.

Lucina laughed to herself. Maribelle was quite the character, both then and now.

When Lucina was close to her tent and all she wanted in all the world was to kick off her boots and massage her sore feet, she happened to notice something strange. As usual, her tent was next to Chrom's, and his in turn was next to Robin's. Her father's tent was dark, as was to be expected: where Chrom was, Frederick was, and vice versa. Lucina's lord-father was most likely conversing with the Shepherds.

Robin's tent, however, was lit.

Lucina checked behind her; Robin was not there. The strategist had never passed her on the way back, either. Lucina had figured out that Robin was often absent-minded when it came to things off of the battlefield and had a tendency to appear places almost at random, so it wasn't impossible to believe that the strategist was the one in there, but still, logistically speaking, how could Robin have gotten there so fast?

Curious and not a little wary, Lucina approached Robin's tent. The light inside was flickering but unmoving: a solitary candle had been lit and set down somewhere. If Robin had returned, the strategist wasn't planning on moving. Lucina remained quiet, stashing herself such that, from the inside, her shadow could not be seen. Kneeling on the ground, she listened.

At first, there was no sound at all. She began to think that, perhaps, the strategist had merely made a gargantuan mistake and left a candle burning unobserved in a cloth tent, but soon, a small sound alerted her that thus was not the case.

It was not loud, but it was heavy and painful. Lucina felt it in her chest. There was another, and another. Lucina felt her good mood draining away. She knew these sounds. She'd heard them so often before, in her old world, that they'd been ingrained in her memory. Lucina had hoped beyond hope that she'd never have to hear that sound again.

Tears. Someone was doing their best to keep in their cries.

Lucina rose from the dirt and brushed the grime from her shinguards. She moved carefully to the tent flap and peered in.

Blue eyes met with green ones. Lucina froze, the flap in her hand suddenly weightless. She felt as if she were intruding upon something sacred, something holy. A ritual was taking place that was not meant to be seen by anyone. At least, by no one of this time.

Tiki, for her part, played it as well as she could. She dried her eyes and rose from Robin's desk without a word. She paused as she passed Lucina, then walked away, her boots stirring the dry dirt from the ground.

Lucina remained where she was for just a few moments after Tiki left. She knew that as soon as she walked into the space, the feeling inside of it would change. The holiness, the nostalgia that had gathered, would dissipate. Lucina breathed it in. It felt like the best of the old world, and something much, much older, mixed up with the present.

The princess stepped into the tent, allowing the flap to fall behind her.

Robin's space was neatly organized. There was a desk, apparently collapsable for the purposes of moving, in the center, and a cot off to the side. A few books were strewn here and there, and a sword was propped against one of the tent poles. Aside from that, there was next to nothing.

Lucina approached the candle. It had been set up on the desk, and judging by the length of the taper, it hadn't been burning for long. There were plenty of papers and battle strategies strewn about, all scribbled on by Robin, or so it seemed. Only one thing seemed out of place.

There was a card. Not just any card, either. Lucina recognized the distinct size and weight as one of those whose allegiance Chrom had won in the Outrealms. The princess flipped the card over, and suddenly she understood, the weight of the knowledge sliding down her throat and hitting her square in the gut. She sat down, her eyes locked on the matching eyes of the card.

It was, of course, the card of Marth. The Hero-King. Lucina felt shame bubbling up from within her. She suspected that it was because this had happened once before: Tiki had mistaken her for Marth, only to be sadly disappointed.

Lucina knew what the card could do. The illusion that it summoned of Marth the Hero-King was incredible. Of course, without the summon, the figure on the card was lifeless. Summoned, it was only a reflection; not summoned, it was only a drawing.

The princess silently put the card, face down, back on the desk. She thought of Tiki and her "Mar-Mar". It made her head hurt.

"Lucina?"

The princess jerked her head up. Robin certainly had a way with timing.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I--"

"What's going on?" Robin demanded, a little put off. "Is everything all right?"

"I… I don't know," Lucina admitted. She thought for a second, then picked up the card. "I found Tiki in here earlier, and I think this is why."

Robin stepped forward several paces and examined the card. The strategist's face registered immediate understanding, if not sympathy.

"Ah. I see. I knew I should have kept these with me. I had thought that this might cause a problem. That's why I haven't deployed him much recently, you see." Robin took the card from Lucina and pocketed it. "I noticed, of course."

"Of course," Lucina said, feeling shaky. It just felt wrong. She felt wrong. Lucina knew exactly how Tiki felt: displaced in time, only moved backward and not forward. Everything was wrong, everything was out of order--seeing Tiki with the card had made her realize just how far afield she was.

"Lucina?" Robin asked again. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"No," Lucina replied. "I"m not, nothing is, it's all wrong!" She was fully prepared to explain everything, to put it all out there, but she was silenced, not by a hand or by words, but by the one gesture she did not expect from the strategist: a hug.

Robin was embracing her. Really, the strategist had a pair of strong arms, or maybe Lucina was just exhausted from a long, hard day. Either way, she found that she couldn't move. Instead, she leaned into the hug. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind: Robin could very well be the enemy, the future had shown her so much; she hadn't been hugged in so long; she wanted comfort; she craved something.

"It will be all right," Robin said firmly, stroking her back. "I promise you. Everything will be all right."

"I feel bad for Lady Tiki," Lucina said. Her eyes teared up with the admission.

"I do, too," Robin responded, holding her tightly. "But Marth is long gone now. We're the ones here for Tiki now."

Lucina nodded against Robin's chest. After another minute, the pair pulled apart.

"You should get some rest, Lucina," Robin said. "Go lay down."

Lucina was about to agree, but her thoughts stopped her. "Wait," she said. "Wait."

"What?"

The princess pretended she was folding her arms while hugging herself. "Is…is my father still at the fire?"

"Yes, of course," Robin said. "Most of the Shepherds are still out. I only came back for a moment because Miriel wanted to borrow one of my texts."

"I don't want to be alone." The words were out before Lucina could suppress them. They were the entire truth; there was no denying it.

Robin understood. The strategist smiled and extended a hand. "Come on, then. It looks like we all could use another cup of tea."

"What about Lady Tiki?"

The strategist took Lucina's hand and led her out of the tent, blowing out the candle along the way. "She'll come around eventually. No one can live in the past forever."

"Even if the past is the future?" Lucina joked.

"Especially if. That's not the future anymore, Lady Lucina," Robin said gravely. "You have friends here and now. You mourn for the past and all you'll do is lose all you have gained here in the present."

Lucina agreed. She allowed herself a tiny smile, her hand clasped firmly in Robin's as they headed toward the fire. Maybe everything wasn't all right, but it wasn't all wrong, either. The sound of laughter drifted to her ears. Her comrades greeted her, her father smiled at her, and Robin brewed her a cup of tea. This was it, the present. This was what was worth fighting for. Her smiled widened as she warmed to the company. She would fight for them all, for the future yet unwritten. She would not fail.

**Author's Note:**

> The first time I played through Awakening, it bothered me that you can recruit Marth through the Outrealm Gate, but he can have no interaction with any of the characters in the game. I figured that he has to communicate with _someone_. Then I remembered Tiki, and this particular bit of fiction was born.


End file.
